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By a vote of 400-4, the House of Representatives adopted a conference
report on the Department of Justice's Appropriations Bill which
includes a provision granting a 7th-year extension for H-1B visa
holders whose labor certification was filed before the end of the
fifth year. Rep.
Dreier (R-CA) and Rep. Jackson-Lee (D-TX) spoke on immigration matters
in the bill. Rep.
Smith (R-TX) sponsored this provision. Here are Lamar Smith's
comments: "An immigration provision I sponsored benefits the
high-tech sector. It allows high-tech workers with H1-B visas who
apply for an extension beyond their normal 6 years to extend their
stay in the U.S. while their application is pending ... Mr. Speaker,
I urge my colleagues to support this conference report. Mr. Speaker,
Section 11030 A of the conference report will permit H- 1B aliens
who have labor certification applications caught in lengthy agency
backlogs to extend their status beyond the 6th year limitation or,
if they have already exceeded such limitation, to have a new H-1B
petition approved so they can apply for an H-1B visa to return from
abroad or otherwise re-obtain H-1B status. Either a labor certification
application or a petition must be filed at least 365 days prior
to the end of the 6th year in order for the alien to be eligible
under this section. The slight modification to existing law made
by this section is necessary to avoid the disruption of important
projects caused by the sudden loss of valued employees. This corrects
a problem created in the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century
Act (Pub. L. 106-313)(AC21). The provision, as it was orginially
written, allowed for extensions of H-1B status beyond the usual
6 years, but required that a labor certification be filed more than
365 days before the end of the 6th year and that an immigrant petition,
the next step in the long line to permanent residency, be filed
before the end of the 6 year as well. When it passed AC 21, Congress
intended to protect foreign nationals and the companies who sponsor
them from the inequities of government bureaucracy inefficiency.
This specific provision was put in place to recognize the lengthy
delays at INS in adjusticalting petitions, rather than DOL. But
since that time, DOL has slowed down its own processing, and the
provision as it was orginially written has become useless for many
otherwise qualified applicants. This correction allows for those
in H-1B status to get extensions beyond the six years when a labor
certification was filed before the end of the fifth year, without
regard to the ability to file an immigrant petition within the next
year. The conferees intends that those who are about the exceed
their six years in H-1B status should not be subject to the additional
requirement of having to file the immigrant petition by the end
of the sixth year, which is simply impossible when DOL has not finished
its part in the process. This recognizes that these individuals
are already well-valued by their companies, have significant ties
to the U.S. and whose employers have to prove that they are not
taking jobs from U.S. workers. It also is meant to permit those
who have exceeded their six year limitation to return to H-1B status.
The conferees intend for this provision to allow those who already
exceeded the 6-year limitation to have a new H-1B petition approved
and obtain a visa to return from abroad or otherwise re-obtain H-1B
status."
(09/30/2002)
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